Outbreak

ARTICLES ABOUT OUTBREAK BY DATE - PAGE 4

NEW DELHI: World Health Organisation (WHO) is working with Health Ministry to formulate a "preparedness plan" to deal with just in case if there is an outbreak of Ebola in the country. "Preparation is a very critical aspect. WHO is working with the Ministry of Family Welfare and Planning to ensure that we put into place preparedness measures. It doesn't mean it is going to happen, but we are prepared if it happens," Asheena Khalakdina, Team Leader, Communicable Disease, WHO Country office for India said.

UNITED NATIONS: With more than one million people affected by the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa , the WHO has warned that there is "no early end in sight" to the severe health crisis and called for "extraordinary measures" to stop the transmission of the disease. According to the latest update issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 128 new cases of Ebola virus disease, as well as 56 deaths, were reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone between August 10 and 11, bringing the total number of cases to 1,975 and deaths to 1,069.

NEW DELHI: As the World Health Organisation today issued a global health emergency due to Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak, the government today opened a 24-hour emergency helpline and said it has put in place the "most advanced surveillance and tracking system". All infected patients in the national capital will be treated at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, a Health Ministry statement said. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan , however, said there was no reported case in India and one traveller, who landed in New Delhi on July 20 and was confirmed by the WHO as a case of EVD, was found to be healthy.

By Ajoy Bose Uttar Pradesh is slowly but surely moving towards an unprecedented communal conflagration. Significantly, all four major political parties in the state — the BJP, the Samajwadi Party , the BSP and the Congress — are active or passive players in this unfolding tragedy. With over 200 million people, a major outbreak of Hindu-Muslim riots in the country's most populous state can only have disastrous consequences for India as a whole. A recent survey revealed as many as 600 communal incidents in UP since the Narendra Modi government came to power, a further aggravation of the spate of riots, including the Muzaffarnagar carnage in the two-year-long SP rule in Lucknow.

NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday announced a slew steps in the light of the outbreak of Ebola virus in west African countries, including screening and tracking of passengers originating or transiting from there, and asked its nationals to defer non-essential travel to that region. There are close to 45,000 Indians in the affected countries. If the situation worsens in these countries, there could be possibility of Indians who are staying there travelling back to India, health minister Harsh Vardhan today informed Parliament.

WASHINGTON: Asserting that there was "no significant risk" to the country from the Ebola outbreak, the White House has ruled out turning back flights coming to the US and said there are screening measures in place to ward off threats from the disease. "No, not at this point," the White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, told reporters when asked if the flights coming to the US would be turned back over Ebola. "At this point, there are screenings that are in place both before individuals board flights in their home countries or where these flights originate, but also after these individuals arrive here in the United States they're screened once again," he said.

WASHINGTON: The World Bank has pledged USD 200 million in emergency funding to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to help the West African countries contain spread of deadly Ebola infections and improve public health systems. World Bank President Dr Jim Yong Kim, who is experienced in treatment of infectious diseases, said the new financing commitment was in response to a call from both the three African countries hardest-hit by Ebola and the World Health Organisation for immediate assistance to contain the outbreak.

SILIGURI: Entire north Bengal and part of Assam have gone under dark cloud of deadly viral disease Encephalitis that has already claimed over 150 lives. While the matter has become a serious concern for health care sector, politicians have come up with even higher level of virulence to churn out political gain out of the crisis. West Bengal Health Services director Mr. Biswaranjan Satpathy has labeled the situation as 'Alarming,' that itself clarifies how big concern the situation has become for the state health department.

SILIGURI: West Bengal's Maldaha district is hit by a viral outbreak. Suspected to have caused by a virus spread by a fruit Lichi, the outbreak has already taken lives of six young kids during last 24 hours while many others are reporting similar symptoms at different medical institutes. The development has already brought down Maldaha's multi crore Litchi trade under deep crisis. According to Dr. Susanta Banerjee, West Bengal state Director of Medical Education, the six ill fated deceased young ones had symptoms of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES)

MELBOURNE: Internet-based surveillance can detect infectious diseases such as dengue fever and influenza up to two weeks earlier than traditional methods, scientists say. People's habit of Googling for an online diagnosis before visiting a doctor can provide early warning of an infectious disease epidemic , researchers said. When investigating the occurrence of epidemics, spikes in searches for information about infectious diseases could accurately predict outbreaks of that disease, said senior author of the study Dr Wenbiao Hu from Queensland University of Technology.